Cruel summer

Cruel summer

Morning
I was just feeling guilty too. Yes of course there is lots to tell but somehow I don’t find the words.

We are having a cruel summer too with temperatures just over 40. However I am getting used to it. The trouble is, the electricity grid isn’t handling the added use of air conditioning and fans etc and the power goes off every day . It is terrible and I find it demotivating. The school bought a generator but of course it is fuel run and the fumes come through the fire escaped door behind which it is installed!!!!!

We continue to get busier and busier and we have a new teacher this week. He came from Manchester with a very bad attitude and I had a lot of work to get him round to our way of thinking. However, I did it and he’s now a pussycat!

The school is going to be about 80% a children’s centre, I think, but the business plan is a bit vague so it is difficult to say. The marketing strategy is something I don’t understand – maybe it’s just Chinese. I’ll understand more next week perhaps.

We had an inspection by senior management last week which was all very positive and encouraging.
We went for our medicals to the hospital on our day off so we all feel really cheated. It was a semi
nightmare. We were pushed around from room to room to have the various tests and we had to keep taking our shoes off and the equipment used was out of Noah’s Arc. Anyway, I’m still here so I don’t have HIV and I’m well enough for a visa to be issued it seems.

This is the beginning of another long hard week but I am enjoying myself immensely and I love it here. When this is all over I look forward to exploring other parts of Asia because I think there are a lot of equally nice interesting places.

I now am the owner of 2 pairs of locally made shoes which are just beautiful and really comfortable, and one pair of trousers., which I had to have made because I am rather large! Shirts were impossible to buy so I’m having them made too.
I had a haircut last week and it cost a blooming fortune but it was really good. It took 2 people to
get my beard off – the first person ran out of strength halfway.

I have moved flat now and I am only 5 minutes away from the school. It is really comfortable and I don’t have to be thinking about cockroaches constantly.
We went to a Korean restaurant on Friday and it was beautiful. Unfortunately every time we go to a foreign restaurant I prefer that food to the local food!

Well, I have a new teacher to look after this morning so I have to go and offer my support.